MONROVIA – The Vanguard Student Unification Party (SUP) has sharply condemned the establishment of the University of Liberia’s newly formed Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC), describing it as a repressive mechanism designed to silence student activism and shield the government from criticism.

In a press release issued on Friday, October 31, 2025, signed by Odecious Mulbah, Secretary-General of SUP, and approved by Chairman Sylvester Wheeler, the student movement accused UL President Dr. Layli Maparyan and President Joseph Boakai of conspiring to “intimidate and repress” students under the guise of academic reform.

The statement opened with SUP’s trademark ideological tone, greeting “comrades,” “ideological patriots,” and “sons and daughters from downtrodden communities,” before launching into a sweeping denunciation of the administration’s decision to set up the committee. SUP alleged that Dr. Maparyan, whom it accused of “illegally gorging on bloated salaries while axing staff like a petty tyrant,” had “zero moral authority” to question students advocating for a dignified learning environment.

According to the group, the SDC is not a legitimate administrative structure but a “calculated instrument of fear, intimidation, and authoritarian control disguised as administrative reform.” The student party argued that the administration focuses on policing dissent rather than addressing the dire conditions students face daily.

SUP listed a chain of long-standing grievances they say the UL administration has failed to address, including lack of buses, dilapidated classrooms, chronic shortages of instructional materials, inadequate laboratory equipment, persistent Add and Drop complications, nonexistent internet connectivity, and general neglect of student welfare. Instead of tackling these systemic failures, SUP accused the administration of “criminalizing dissent” under the false banner of promoting “ethics” and “excellence.”

The group condemned provisions in the SDC framework that classify student protests, boycotts, strikes, and demonstrations as violations punishable by suspension or expulsion. According to SUP, such measures “directly attack the constitutional right to peaceful assembly guaranteed under Article 17 of the 1986 Constitution.”

SUP acknowledged that hooliganism and violence should not be tolerated on campus but insisted that “administrative tyranny” was equally unacceptable. The press release stated that “the real indiscipline” comes from the administration’s failure to provide quality, affordable education, while “the real violence” is the persistent assault on students’ dignity resulting from an “embarrassing learning environment.”

The student movement issued a stern warning to Dr. Maparyan and the government, declaring that no committee, formal or informal, would “intimidate us into silence.” SUP vowed to resist every attempt to “turn the University of Liberia into a police state and Boakai’s project.”

The administration, however, maintains that the SDC is a necessary governance tool intended to ensure discipline and order across UL campuses. The committee was established by Dr. Maparyan in consultation with the UL Board of Trustees and was formally inaugurated on October 23, 2025, at the Fendall campus.

In a memorandum dated October 13, 2025, Dr. Maparyan announced that the SDC would begin work immediately and continue throughout the 2025–2026 academic year. The seven-member committee is chaired by faculty member Andrew K. Dean, with Cllr. Clara Cassell and Ambassador Felecia J.W. Dorbor serving as ex-officio representatives from Legal Affairs and Student Affairs, respectively. Additional members include staff representative Janet U. Lolemeh, student representatives Isaac Tulo Chea and Victoria D. Korgbay, and at-large representative Bendu Kromah.

The SDC has already begun receiving complaints and investigating alleged violations of the Student Handbook. It is charged with probing incidents of hooliganism, vandalism, violent conduct, disrespect toward university authorities, circulation of defamatory publications, destruction of property, and participation in boycotts, demonstrations, or strikes. Penalties range from warnings to suspension or expulsion, depending on the severity of the offense.

According to UL, the committee’s work is essential to maintaining a safe, orderly, and academically productive environment. The administration has framed the SDC as part of Dr. Maparyan’s broader reform agenda built on five pillars: education, efficiency, effectiveness, excellence, and ethics.

But SUP remains unconvinced, insisting the committee represents an attempt to stifle legitimate student grievances and erode hard-won democratic freedoms. With both sides entrenched in opposing interpretations of the SDC’s purpose, the dispute underscores the ongoing tensions between the UL administration and Liberia’s most vocal student political movement.

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